On African Longicornia

( 139 ) r ^ s rv^s ON AFRICAN LONGICORNIA. fPl. IX. anrl X.) Bv DR. K. .JORDAN. the last year the Trinf? Museum received several collections of DURINGOoleoptera from West Africa, contaiuiug many interestiug and uew species. Besides .some smaller lots of beetles from different localities of the Cougo R., from C!araeroons, Old Calabar, Bathurst (W. Afr.),aud Accra, the Museum acquired extensive collections from Loanda, French Loango, Gold Coast, and Sierra Leone. Especially rich is the material collected by A. Mocqiierys during his visit to the Upper Knilu R. in French Loango, and most of the new species described in this paper are from that locality. The collection from Sierra Leone, made by Dr. W. G. Clements, represents a fine series of species of nearly all families, and includes many peculiar and hitherto unknown forms. Having now worked out the Longicornia of those collections, together with the African material of this family already contained in the Museum, 1 give a list of the known in addition to the of the forms species descriptions new ; the known " " species ticketed W. Afr. (withont exact locality) in the Museum's collection are left out, except a very few the occurrence of which in West Africa is of interest. Some South and East African forms are added. Intending to give a fuller account of the geographical relations of the West African beetles, when the whole collection is worked out, I here mention only some of the most striking facts derived chiefly from our knowledge of the African Cerambycidae. " The above-mentioned localities belong U) the West African Subregiou," the boundaries of which almost exactly agree with the limits of the range of the Buprestid genus J>dodi» in Africa. This genus is very abundant in the southern districts of the Palaearctic Region, and ranges over East and South Africa in a large number of species. The whole forest region of West Africa from Senegambia to Angola, as well as Beuguela, is characterized by the total absence of Jidodis. One species {J. aeqiunoctiaUs (Oliv.), occurs fmm Senegambia to Abyssinia and Egypt, and the southern limit of its range may agree with the northern boundary of the West African Subregiou. The districts south of the Sahara occupied by this to species and by Sternocera inferrnpta (Oliv.) and St. casf.anea (Oliv.) correspond " R. Bowdler Sharpe's Sudanese Subregiou," which separates the West African as Subregiou from the great desert, and extends from Senegambia as far Abyssinia. Owing to our present ignorance of the Longicorn fauna of the Sudan, Nubia, and Abyssinia, I can add only two species of Cerambycini and three Lamiiui, the occurrence of which seems to me to be nearly restricted to the Sudanese Sub- and nituH- region ; these species are Obriaccam fmcutum (Chevr.) Cordylomera pennis Serv., both from Senegambia and Bahr el Abiad (Abyssinia), Binntoci'ro and Bahr tiifasciata (Fabr.) representeil in the Museum from Sierra Leone, Senegal, and el Abiad, Phryneta aurocincta (Gu6r.) from Senegambia and Bahr el Abiad, Ceratites jaspidem Serv. from the sami' localities. Then we find Hi/poeschrus ( 140 ) tlie R. sfriffos'js (Gyll.) from districts of the Senegal represented in Abyssinia by a similar form, H;/i>ocschrus strigosus abifssinicim snbsp. nov. : and it is of interest to note, that the genera Cajit/iarocnemis, Coelodon, and Pachydissus, which range over E. India and the eastern and southern parts of Africa, are also found in Sene- gambia, while they are evidently absent from the West African Subregion. The coleopterous fauna of the districts between the Benue R. and iSokoto is of a West African type, as far as I can tell from a number of species that form part of the collection made by Mr. P. Staudinger during the expedition of E. Hartert and P. to and of the are Staudinger Kano Sokoto (1885-6) ; many species identical with either those from Sierra Leone, or from the Gold Coast, or from the Knilu R. The southern boundary line is usually saiil to agree with the Quauza R. Our collection from Loanda is confined to such species as are either identical with, or closely allied to, species from the Congo R. or French Loango (Kuilu R.), and includes scarcely any South or East African form. When we come to examine the " " Longicornia described from Angola we find them mostly of the West African as well as those R. but also find the type, known from the Ui)i)er Quauza ; we fauna of these districts already intermingled witji a number of decideiUy South or East African genera, as Phi/llocneina, Closteromertis, Plirisaoma, and some others, a fact which sliows this country to be .it the junction of the West and South African fauna. These facts render it j)robable that the northern parts of Angola as a whole should go with the West African Subregion, and that we have to fi.x the limit of this south of tlie R. l)ut at determine the Subregion Quauza ; ]ireseut we cannot exactly southern boundary, even if there is an exact ])arting line, especially as most of the Longicornia known from this district have no other locality given but simply " Angola." The collections, however, made in this country incline me to suppose that the boundary line may commence at the coast south of the Quanza, and that inland it bends southward about as far as the thirteenth degree of southern latitude, and then curves northwards to the Up])er Congo. The districts of the Upper Congo, near the Stanley Falls, exhibit a West African coleopterous fauna intermingled with decidedly East African types, while a few West African forms (for example Mecosaspis) range as far east as Nyassa Land. The West African Longicom fauna lias a large series of characteristic forms, besides many genera of a wider range. If we omit the new genera proposed in this paper, and also those occurriug only in Senegambia, we find at present more than T.5 genera confined to the West African Subregion. The great feature of the Longicorn fauna of these districts is the abundance of Callichromini. A series of genera of this conspicuous group is peculiar to West Africa, as Omopti/cha, Dictator, Synaptola, Gloniopkorus, Rhopalizus, Eulitopm, etc., while others (as Oxyprosopus and EuporuH) here occur in a large number of species, but are also represented by a few forms in the South and East of the Continent. Then there are the lyciform C'erambycini Ampkidesmus and Dinstelloptems, and the remarkable genera Allo- gaster, Pfyckolaemus, Oedaenoderus, and others. Among the Lamiini we meet with many peculiar forms, as Ecphora, Anauxesis, Petrognatha, Protonarthron, Plectro- scapus, Plagiomys, Eurysops, Pinacostcrna, Acridocephalu, etc., and find the follow- to ing groujjs be prevailing : Monnkammitii, Prosopocerini, Steniotomini, Trago- cephalini, PIn-ynetini, Crossotini, and Saperdini. The Priottini have five genera to peculiar West Africa, two of which (Aiioeme and Sol/nrus) are of great interest, being without close relations to any other Prionid genus known at present. ( 141 ) the Of genera not restricted to the West x\frican Snbregion, Parani/ra, and are the Mallodon, Liopus, Psapliarochrns Xeotro]iical types ; genus Pamndi-a, numerous species of which are described from America, occurs also in AVest and South in the Oriental and on the Sandwich Is. Mallodoit is Africa, Region ; represented in Africa one over the whole b}' species ranging Aethiopian Region, b}- a second in S. Africa, by a third in Arabia, and is also found in Australia; Liopus-AnA occur in Psapliarochrns West Africa in two species each, and are likewise represented in the Palaearctic Region by some forms, two of which {Liopxs nebidosus (L.j, and Acanthocleres (Psapharochrm clampes Schrank.) are common enough and have a rather wide range. The occurrence of East Indian or Oriental types in the fauna of West Africa, well known in other classes of is animals, also met with among the Longicornia. The decidedly Oriental genera Batocera, Leprodera, Olenecamptus, and Glenea are represented {Glenea by a great number of species) in the West African Snbregion, while they are absent from the rest of the continent. Then we find SfAenias iu Africa and occurring West the Oriental Region, with the number of species almost iu both equal districts, and meet with many forms of the widespread genus Monokamimis both in E. India and W. Africa, and it is very remarkable to note that these genera are not yet found in the eastern parts of Ai'rica. The of Callichroma is allied to the Oriental proli:ra-gvox^]y closely genus Cldorirhluni ; and, lastly, of the West African genus ^fecosaspis, two species are said to occur in E. India. If we further take into consideration the affinities of the Oriental " " Longicorn fauna to that of East and South Africa—called fni'ther on E. S. Afi'ica —and also to that of all tiie African continent south of the desert, we sliall find one striking fact. The genera Cantkarocnemis, Megopis, and Pliilayathus have iu E. India and Africa (excluding W. Africa) almost the same number of species, and tlierefore may " " be called Eastern Afro-Indiau types ; the Oriental genera Pach/di.ssiis and Gnat/tolea are represented in E. S. Africa, while on the other hand Hoinalohu-hiuis of E. S. African type occurs in East India. The genus Polyzonas of the Oriental Region is very closely allied to the E. S. African genus Anubis. All these forms are entirely absent from the West African Snbregion (exclnding the districts of the Senegal R.). and E. S. Of the genera ranging over West Africa and the Oriental Region, one {Plocederus) may be called a West-African type, three {Promeces, Rhaplii- f-nfl are characteristic E.

Load more